Provost Candidates to Visit University of Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – University of Arkansas Chancellor G. David Gearhart announced that four candidates for the position of provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs will visit the campus for interviews beginning Oct. 28.

The four candidates were selected by the 20-member search committee for the provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. The committee, made up of administrators, faculty, staff and student representatives, has been meeting since June to consider applications. Chancellor Gearhart is the committee chairman.

The four candidates will make presentations to the committee members and others during their visits to campus. In addition, each candidate will make campuswide presentations at 2 p.m. in Giffels Auditorium during the day of their visit.

Alan F.J. Artibise, the current executive dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University, will be on campus Tuesday, Oct. 28. Artibise received his doctoral degree from the University of British Columbia. He is trained as a political scientist and urban historian and is a recognized expert in North American urban development.

Robert McMath, interim provost at the University of Arkansas, will interview with committee members and make his campus presentations on Tuesday, Nov. 4. He has a doctorate in history from the University of North Carolina and was a professor and administrator at Georgia Tech from 1972 to 2005, when he came to Arkansas to be the founding dean of the Honors College.

Stuart Bell, dean of the School of Engineering at the University of Kansas, will visit the campus on Thursday, Nov. 6. He has a doctoral degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University and was professor and head of the mechanical engineering department at the University of Alabama.

Sharon L. Gaber, senior associate provost at Auburn University will meet with the search committee and others on campus Tuesday, Nov. 18. She has a doctoral degree in city and regional planning from Cornell University. She has been a professor of architecture as well as an administrator at both the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Auburn University.